


you just can't see it yet

by sentientaltype



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, anya and raven play matchmaker, but it all works out in the end, flirty clarke, growing feels with a side of humor, just a touch of angst, lexa is oblivious, lexa is unsurprisingly into worshipping clarke’s pipi, lexa's nervous in the streets and topping in the sheets, luna and octavia get some snakey vibes, probably some smut but ya know, raven is a sneaky hoe, your local clexa slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-13 23:25:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12994806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentientaltype/pseuds/sentientaltype
Summary: Clarke and Lexa have been best friends since middle school, and met their other four friends a few years later. After the two of them both endure incredibly messy breakups, Raven and Anya take it upon themselves to set their girls up.In which Lexa is an oblivious bean, Clarke can't seem to sift through her mess of emotions, and Raven and Anya seem to insist that the best friends are in love, but they just can't see it yet.





	1. the first cut is the deepest

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is the first chapter in a little clexa fic i've been wanting to try. this is not proofread, so sorry for any mistakes!

“Oh my God, Anya, can you let it go?” Lexa groans as she pushes herself off the couch, heading into the kitchen both to grab a beer and shake her obnoxious best friend.

“No, I cannot let it go,” Anya huffs, blocking Lexa’s way back out of the kitchen. “You two were together for five years, she can’t just move out one day and leave you a note!”

“Well, evidently she can, since that’s exactly what she did,” Lexa shoves past Anya and propels herself onto the couch, nearly kicking Luna’s head off.

“Oy, heathen, watch it!” she shouts before realizing that she just yelled at Lexa instead of Anya. “Oh, sorry, I thought you were Anya.” Lexa just shrugs, straightening herself up and sidling up next to her other roommate. “How’re you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” she frowns, resting her head on Luna’s shoulder. Between her two roommates, Luna is by far the most empathetic. Her girlfriend, on the other hand, tends to dish out the tough love. 

“Is Anya giving you grief?” Luna asks, not even giving Lexa a chance to respond before yelling into the kitchen, “Babe, stop giving Lexa grief! She’s mourning!”

“She shouldn’t be mourning, she should be letting me kick Costia’s ass for that shit!” Anya growls, the protector in her becoming very clear as she sits down on the arm of the couch. “I mean, what did that note say, exactly? I know you have it memorized.”

“‘ _ Dear Lexa, I don’t love you anymore. I’m moving out, please don’t look for me. Best, Costia, _ ’” Lexa recites, her cheeks going red at how well Anya knows her. 

“Oh come on,” Anya whines, “that’s the worst thing ever! What did Clarke and Raven have to say about it?” Lexa casts her eyes downward, observing the swirling patterns intently with her brows furrowed. 

“You didn’t tell them?” Luna catches on immediately, looking at her girlfriend over Lexa’s head. “Oh my gosh, she didn’t tell them.”

“Why didn’t you tell them?” Anya asks, her tone softening drastically. The two women know that if Lexa hasn’t told Clarke, then it’s much more serious than they anticipated. 

“Clarke is having problems with Finn, I didn’t want to bother her,” Lexa shrugs as if it makes perfect sense. “And Raven is… well, Raven.”

“You should tell Clarke. You know she wouldn’t judge,” Luna nudges her a little. Lexa smiles weakly and stands up, excusing herself up to her room. She found the note in her and Costia’s apartment almost a week ago, and she’s been moving her things back into Anya and Luna’s apartment ever since. She tried to stay at her old place the first night, but she ended up cuddling Costia’s old pillow and sobbing into it, which Anya found to be incredibly off-putting when she showed up the next morning. Lexa’s never been the type to overshare, but she’s starting to get a nagging feeling in her gut because she hasn’t called Clarke since she came home to a folded piece of paper on her counter. Clarke’s been Lexa’s best friend since middle school, when they both ended up in the nurse's office after a very messy game of kickball. Lexa can’t recall a time where something this big happened in her life and she told someone else before Clarke, so she flops down on her bed face first and pulls her phone out of her back pocket. She presses the phone icon next to the blonde’s contact picture, one of Clarke ruffling her hair with a goofy grin taking over her features.

“Sexy Lexy, what can I do for you?” Clarke’s voice rings through the phone after two rings. Lexa can hear movement on the other side, a crackling sound as if Clarke was rubbing the phone’s mic against fabric.

“I, uh, I have to tell you something,” Lexa mumbles, biting down on her bottom lip. 

“Okay, shoot,” she replies, the sound ceasing, signaling to Lexa that the blonde is finally still.

“Costia and I broke up.”

“Wait, what?” Clarke gasps. “Are you serious?”

“Well, yeah,” Lexa stammers, “she left me a note last week and-”

“She left you a  _ note _ ?” Clarke interrupts. “After five years together, after buying an apartment together, all she could do was leave you a note? What a fucking coward.”

“Clarke, it’s okay-”

“No it’s not,” she cuts her off again, which is abnormal for Clarke. She’s usually a very good listener, and almost never has this strong of a reaction to Lexa’s life problems. “My Lex deserves better,” her tone softens to one that’s sickeningly sweet, Lexa’s nickname flowing off her tongue like drizzling honey.

“Thank you, Clarke,” Lexa keeps her acknowledgement simple, afraid that any more talk of Costia might cause her voice to betray her.

“Hey, do you wanna come over? I know you’re probably sick to death of those girls. Raven and Octavia are away for the weekend, so we can have the apartment to ourselves,” Clarke offers, somehow already knowing that Lexa’s staying at Anya and Luna’s place.

“I’ll be over in ten.”

*

Lexa decides to walk the two blocks to her best friend’s apartment complex, since she hasn’t been outside in almost 48 hours and the weather is especially nice for March. After getting buzzed in immediately after she rang, the green eyed woman takes the elevator to the twelfth floor, her long fingers drumming nervously on the handrail. As she walks down the hall, her hands slip into the pockets of her peacoat, twiddling with her fingers where the inhabitants of the complex won’t see. Lexa barely has a chance to knock before the wooden door swings open, revealing a casually dressed Clarke, clad in dark grey sweatpants and a “nevertheless, we persist” t-shirt.

“Sorry, I’ve been waiting,” Clarke smiles, leaning one arm against the doorframe.

“Oh, sorry, am I late? I picked up some coffee on the way out of Anya’s building, I didn’t realize it would take me so long-” Lexa’s nervous rambling is cut short when Clarke tenderly wraps her arms around her, enveloping her in a warm and comforting hug. Clarke’s fingers brush nimbly through Lexa’s hair, making her green eyes flutter closed. 

“What are you so nervous about?” Clarke pulls away slightly, her signature grin causing her eyes to crinkle ever-so-slightly. “It’s just me.”

“I know, I know,” Lexa shakes her head a little. “The past week, everything has just felt so… wrong.”

“I know, sweetheart,” Clarke brings a hand up to her face, stroking her cheek with the pad of her thumb. “I totally get why you didn’t tell me at first. I know I’ve been all over the place the past few weeks, and I feel terrible that I couldn’t be there for you.” Lexa finds the words catching in her throat as she stares into Clarke’s cerulean gaze, her eyes piercing into a part of her soul she didn’t even know was there. 

“It’s okay,” Lexa says meekly. “I know you’ve been having problems with Finn-” 

“Please,  _ anything  _ but Finn,” Clarke groans, shimmying out of Lexa’s loose grip and sidling back into the apartment. 

“Okay, well I know you’ve been really busy doing commission work, and I didn’t want to get in the way,” Lexa changes the subject as quickly as it came up, but she can’t help but wonder why Clarke was immediate to shut the topic down when she’s usually vocal about her relationships.  _ Very  _ vocal.

“You’re not in the way,” Clarke looks at Lexa over her shoulder, holding up two beers, to which Lexa nods. She knows deep down she shouldn’t be drinking to forget, but what’s one beer, right? Clarke slides the bottle across the counter and Lexa grabs it just before it falls off, placing the cool bottle on the back of her neck in a sorry attempt to relieve the tension. “Incoming,” Clarke shouts and tosses a bottle opener though the air which Lexa catches with ease, brandishing the object in one hand and smiling at the Vancouver engraving. “I see you haven’t lost your softball skills,” she snickers and Lexa rolls her eyes, popping the top off and tosses the top in a perfect arc, sending it into the recycling bin with a clatter.

“You flatter me,” Lexa leans forward on her elbows, her “Clarke smile,” as her friends call it , returning for the first time in over a week. “So what’s new?”

“Well, I’ve got a big piece in the works,” Clarke begins. “It’s for this hot-shot independent contractor who, funnily enough, has the ugliest house on the planet.” Lexa stifles a laugh at Clarke’s unabashed insulting of the man paying her for her work. “He wanted something to show his wife that he loves her, so,” she gestures vaguely to a large canvas covered by a sheet across the room. Lexa quirks an eyebrow for permission and Clarke just shrugs, taking a sip of her beer to contain her nerves. Clarke is perpetually nervous when showing other people her art, especially Lexa. She’s always been a big supporter of her pursuit of art, but she still feels tension churning in her stomach as Lexa peels back the sheet, unveiling the mostly-finished painting. Lexa’s eyes widen at the organized mess of colors outlining a woman holding a silk sheet around herself. The stripes of color blend effortlessly together and surround the woman in the painting, drawing her tan skin forward and allowing the grey sheet sink to the back of the canvas.

“Clarke, this is…” Lexa trails off.

“It needs some work, I know,” Clarke sighs. “I haven’t finished shading her shoulder or the crease of the sheet-”

“Be quiet, it’s beautiful,” Lexa admonishes. “Your work… It always blows me away.”

“Thanks,” Clarke smiles.

“Is that the guy’s wife then?” 

“Yeah, I asked him if she’d sit for me,” Clarke replies. “I’ve always liked painting the female form. Gives me an excuse to observe” Lexa tenses ever-so-slightly at the blonde’s nonchalant comment. As far as the five of them know, Clarke is the only one who’s straight, but Lexa’s always had her suspicions. They did share one drunken kiss during a round of truth or dare sophomore year, one that the green eyed woman still feels ghosting her lips, but Clarke’s been dating any man with a pulse ever since, so she’s never had a chance to follow up on her theory. Not that she wants to.

“It looks good,” Lexa swallows, not sure how else to veer away from where Clarke slyly directed the conversation. “I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it, but I’m always here for you regarding Finn.”

“I know you are,” Clarke approaches her and sets a hand on her arm, “and I’m thankful, but he’s out of town and I’m trying to enjoy the lack of nagging in my ear. Would you be opposed to eating junk food in front of the TV and cuddling all night?” 

“Who could say no to that?” Lexa shakes her head fondly and Clarke pumps a fist in the air, proceeding to rattle off a list of snacks they “just  _ have  _ to have.”

*

After spending half an hour in the local grocery store, Clarke running around like child grabbing everything with a ridiculous caloric intake, and Lexa looking over her shoulders to make sure her best friend didn’t run into anything, they finally approach the register. Once they place their items on the belt, Lexa offers to pay and hands the older woman working the register her card before Clarke has a chance to say anything, so instead she throws an arm over Lexa’s shoulder, brushing through the thick strands of hair.

“You two make a beautiful couple,” the lady comments with a kind smile.

“Oh, we’re not-” Lexa starts but the words catch in her throat when Clarke slips her hand into Lexa’s. 

“Thank you so much,” Clarke smiles widely, her gaze shifting between the cashier and Lexa’s confused expression. She gives the green eyed woman’s hand a little squeeze, which does little to appease Lexa’s rampant confusion.

“How long have you ladies been together?”

“Since high school,” Clarke replies without even thinking about it. “We were best friends first, but we both eventually realized what we really wanted.” Lexa’s jaw drops at the darkened look in Clarke’s blue eyes.

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” she says moreso to Lexa, handing her back her credit card. “You two have a great evening.”

“Thanks, you too,” Lexa mumbles and uses the grocery bags as an excuse to let go of Clarke’s hand, her palm sweating out of sheer stress as supposed to heat. She grabs the bags as quickly as possible and rushes out to Clarke’s car, leaving the blonde standing dumbfounded at the conveyor belt. Clarke takes a minute to think about what the hell she just did, and her head quickly falls into her hands.  _ What was I thinking?  _ She finally unfreezes and makes a beeline for the door, rushing to the car after her best friend.

“Lexa, wait,” Clarke jogs after the brown eyed woman, who is loading the groceries into the trunk. “Hey, I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. I guess my imagination got the best of me.”

“It’s okay,” Lexa sighs, turning around and leaning back on the car, “I was just surprised, that’s all.” Clarke just smiles at her before slipping into the driver’s seat, leaving Lexa to wonder why Clarke’s little stunt affected her so much.

*

“Clarkie, we’re back!” Raven shouts as she comes crashing into the apartment the next afternoon. Lexa had just returned to Anya and Luna’s apartment to go house-hunting, insisting to Clarke that she was fine to do it alone. 

“Oh God, please go back,” Clarke groans, barely lifting her head up from the couch, her peripheral allowing her to see Octavia hanging off of Raven like an extra limb, once again exhibiting their inseparability.

“You love us,” Octavia tears herself off of her girlfriend’s body as if it was causing her physical pain before flopping down directly on top of Clarke, the blonde letting out a ridiculous grunt. “How was your weekend, Griff?” 

“It was good,” Clarke grits out before she shoves Octavia off of her, sending the dark haired woman rolling onto the floor. “I saw Lexa.”

“Wait, you did?” Raven overhears from the kitchen. “When?”

“She came over yesterday, in the evening, and then she left a few hours ago,” she replies, sitting up after she realizes that she’s going to have to explain the story to her nosy roommates. “Her and Costia broke up.”

“No way,” Raven sits back down next to the blonde, a glass of orange juice in hand. “What happened? I thought they were doing well.”

“I have no idea,” Clarke sighs. “She didn’t really want to get into it, but I do know that she only left a note.”

“Seriously?” Octavia gapes. “What a dick move.”

“I know,” Clarke nods and snatches the orange juice from her friend’s hand, taking a large gulp before Raven smacks her upper arm and takes it back.

“Did you tell her about Finn?” Octavia blurts out and Raven shoots her a silencing glare.

“No, I didn’t,” Clarke bares her teeth ever-so-slightly at Octavia. “She had plenty of her own shit to sift through. I offered to go look at apartments with her today and I was going to talk to her about it then, but she said she could do it alone.”

“Sounds like you’re making excuses to me,” Raven raises a skeptical eyebrow.

“Piss off,” Clarke rolls her eyes and gets up from the couch, stomping down the hall into her room and slamming the door behind her. The blonde rests her head against the door, lightly banging against it in an attempt to force the whirlwind of thoughts out of her brain. She eventually pulls out her phone and clicks on  _ Messages _ , then on Finn’s contact, scrolling through their messages from a few days ago.

**Clarke [19:21]** _ i just can’t believe you would cheat on me _

**Finn [19:48]** _ I’m not cheating on you. _

**Clarke [19:48]** _yeah, not anymore, but you were and we both know it_

**Finn [20:12]** _ You have no proof. _

**Clarke [20:12]** _it’s not about proof, it’s about the fact that if you’ve been faithful, you should be denying it vehemently instead of saying i can’t prove it_

**Finn [20:22]** _ I’m not going to keep doing with this you. _

**Finn [20:23]** _ You want the truth? Fine, I cheated on you. _

**Finn [20:23]** _ We’ve been together for six months and you’ve never put out. And Bellamy said he had the same problem with you! _

**Clarke [20:24]** _ you talk to bellamy about me? are you serious? fuck you _

**Finn [20:31]** _ Yeah, fuck you too. _

**Finn [20:32]** _Don’t message me again. I’m done._

Clarke tosses her phone onto her bed and soon follows its path, screaming half-heartedly into the pillows. She lays there thinking about her status with Finn for who knows how long until there’s a hesitant knock on the door.

“Octavia, you and Raven can both fuck off,” Clarke shouts at the door, making no move to get up.

“Uh, it’s me,” Lexa’s timid voice is muffled by the door.

“Shit,” she mutters and opens her bedroom door, revealing a formally-dressed Lexa with her hair in an intricate set of braids.

“Raven called, she said you needed me for something?” Lexa’s adorable smile never fails to cheer Clarke up, and she can’t even muster up enough anger to be mad at Raven for calling Lexa while she was busy.

“I’m sorry, I know you were out doing something, I didn’t ask her to-”

“I know you didn’t,” Lexa chuckles, “Clarke Griffin  _ never  _ asks for help. And besides, you helped me yesterday, so I’ll help you today.” Lexa invites herself into Clarke’s room, kicking off her heels and hanging her jacket on one of the wall hooks before sitting on the edge of the bed and patting the space next to her. “C’mere, sit.” The blonde pads shyly over to the bed, sitting cross-legged facing her best friend.

“What’s up?” Clarke asks lightly, her eyes faltering away from Lexa’s powerful gaze. She’s afraid that if she stares into the green orbs for any longer than she has to, she’ll completely lose herself and let Lexa see all of her, though for a moment, Clarke wonders what’s so wrong with that.

“What happened with Finn?” Lexa inquires, her voice just above a whisper. Clarke bows her head and trains her eyes on the carpet, reluctant to share the incident that she finds embarrassing with her best friend. “Hey, you can tell me,” Lexa places a reassuring hand on Clarke’s knee. “I don’t judge.”

“We- He broke up with me,” Clarke finally looks up at her best friend. “He was cheating on me, and then he had the nerve to dump  _ me.  _ All because I confronted him.” Clarke chokes on the last few words and a few tears spring from the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, honey,” the brunette sighs, wrapping her arms around Clarke’s waist, the two molding together, the feeling reminiscent of coming home after a long day. Clarke eventually stops supporting herself enough to sit up as she cries, sending both of them tumbling back on the bed, but conforming to each other just as easily. Lexa’s nimble fingers run through blond locks, whispering sweet nothings into Clarke’s ear as she falls asleep.

“I’m here. It’s okay, I’m here.”

*

An obnoxious knock at the door wakes both the women up from their spontaneous evening nap. Clarke groans and lifts her head off of Lexa’s stomach, untangling their legs and sitting up straight. Lexa finds herself shivering at the loss of warmth, reaching blindly around the space beside her for her best friend. The door swings open and reveals a dumbfounded and yet smirking Raven.

“You two do know that it’s gone nine o’clock, right?” Raven asks rhetorically, picking up a stray pillow from the floor and chucking it precisely at Lexa’s torso. “Woods, your babysitters are here.” Clarke hears laughing in the living room, Anya’s distinct cackle ringing out and causing Clarke to shoot up from the bed and jog down the hall.

“Look who it is,” Luna comments when the blonde appears in the wide doorway.

“Griffin decided to show up,” Anya jokes, taking a bite of the pile of food on her plate. Octavia, Anya and Luna all sit gathered around the dining room table, with six places set. Clarke is suddenly hit with the reminder that the six of them were supposed to have dinner together tonight, since it’d been a few weeks since they all saw each other.

“Oh shit,” Clarke gasps. “I totally forgot that was today.” Clarke slides down in the chair next to Luna, the older woman starting a conversation about Clarke’s art. Meanwhile, Raven is mulling over what she just walked in on. Her best friends, that she’s known since high school, tangled up in each other halfway down the bed. The mechanic has always had her suspicions about the two of them, and now that they’re both single… 

“Anya!” Raven yells down the hall for her friend. “Come here, I have an idea.” 

  
  
  



	2. winning a battle, losing a war

“You’re insane,” Anya says over the phone. Raven spent a good half-hour explaining her plan last night, and it’s still mostly lost on Anya. “They’re not into each other.”

“Yeah, not yet,” Raven replies and Anya can hear the smirk on her face. “Look, Anya, this is gonna be amazing. I’m gonna work on Clarke while you work on Lexa, and we’re gonna create the best ship this sixsome has ever seen!”

“Didn’t you just say yesterday that you and Octavia are at the very apex of the lesbian community?”

“Okay, the second best ship in our sixsome,” Raven clarifies and Anya has to bite her lip to keep from making a comment about her and Luna existing too. “Anyway, I was thinking we do this in several phases: First, we get them over their exes, and then we go from there. I know Clarke wants to act like she doesn’t care about Finn, but she totally does.”

“Yeah, same with Lexa,” Anya decides to play into Raven’s hand. “She’s trying to pretend it’s not getting to her, but it’s so obvious.”

“Yeah, I figured as much, but still! This is why I need you on board with the mission, I need a Lexa operator.”

“You’re making this a much bigger deal than it has to be,” Anya points out and she hears Raven’s offended gasp.

“You’re right, it’s not a big deal,” Raven retorts. “It’s a huge deal! These are our best friends, and they need this!”

_I’m starting to think you need this more than they do_ , Anya almost mutters but keeps it to herself. “Right. Fuck it, I’m there.”

“You’ll do it?” Raven asks but doesn’t wait for a response before whooping. “Great, Clarke won’t be home for dinner tomorrow, so come by and we’ll work it all out.”

“Can I bring Luna?”

“No!” Raven shouts immediately. “I’m not telling Octavia, so you can’t tell Luna. It’s best if we keep this to ourselves until it starts to develop, we can’t risk any cross-contamination. Think of it like a chemistry lab.”

“What would you know about chem labs?” Anya snorts. “You only passed the final because I wrote the formula for the percent compositions of elements on your arm, the Fahrenheit to Celsius equation on your thigh, and Boyle’s law on your other elbow!”

“Says the one who made me show up to your Intro to Mechanics progress evaluation, pretending to be you, to resolve engine failure since you were busy fingerbanging Luna into the floorboards to go to class!”

“Wow, that was uncalled for,” Anya feels the blush rising in her cheeks. “Fine, I won’t tell her, but it has nothing to do with your cross-contamination bullshit.”

“Great, talk soon, and I’ll-” Raven’s sentence cuts off when Anya hits the red “end call” button, heading back downstairs and leaving her phone on the bed.

“Hey, who were you talking to?” Luna says as Anya comes up behind her, molding into the shape of her back.

“Just Raven,” Anya mumbles into her girlfriend’s neck. “She wanted to know how Lexa’s doing.”

“And how is Lexa doing?” Luna turns around to face the taller woman. “She’s either been working or apartment hunting since Costia left.”

“I think she’s okay,” Anya sighs. “I wouldn’t know, though. She hasn’t really been saying much to anyone, not even Clarke. I think the whole situation is getting to her more than we thought.”

“She should spend some more time with Clarke. They both just went through breakups, and they’ve always been the closest out of all of us.”

“Right…” Anya murmurs, the urge to tell Luna all about Raven’s plan to get the two of them together incredibly strong. Luckily for her, the sound of a key turning in the lock forces both women’s heads to the door, where Lexa pushes through the doorway and drops a bag on the ground.

“Please, you two, not in the kitchen,” she shakes her head when her eyes land on her friends’ embrace. “I went shopping for some apartment supplies, I’ll be back down in a minute.”

“Can’t you just use supplies from your old apartment?” Luna points out, moving away from Anya to continue cooking.

“She doesn’t want to go back there,” someone says as the door gets kicked open, revealing a disheveled Clarke with boxes in her arms.

“Lex, I can-” Anya starts but Clarke tuts over her.

“Don’t bother,” she says. “I offered to clear it out for her but she said no.”

“Clarke, are you staying for dinner?” Luna asks, measuring out portions of rice.

“Oh, I should get back,” Clarke shakes her head politely. “We still on for tomorrow, Lexy?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Lexa smiles and Clarke’s eyes seem to sparkle at the reply. Anya takes note of it and rolls her eyes, but deep down, she thinks it’s kind of cute.

#

“Okay, I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical at first,” Anya says as she lays on Raven’s couch the next night, “but I totally see it now.”

“Right?” Raven grins smugly. “What turned you to the dark side?”

“Yesterday, Lexa confirmed their plans for tonight and there was just this look in Clarke’s eye, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“The gleam,” Raven muses. “I’ve been seeing it for years.” Anya sighs fondly at her friend’s idiocy as she sips her glass of wine. “I think Clarke’ll be easy,” Raven hums. “She’s such a mess that all we have to do is make her realize that Lexa’s been the one for her all along, and then she won’t be able to control herself.”

“What about Lexa?”

“She’s gonna be a tough nut to crack,” the mechanic sits up from her slumped position. “I’ve tried to broach the topic before, and she’s completely in denial.”

“I don’t know if it can be classified as denial,” Anya shakes her head. “I’d file it under ‘oblivious’ before anything else.”

“Yeah, fair enough,” she nods. “We just have to figure out a way to get her to fall in love with Clarke.”

“Easier said than done.”

#

“So, are you feeling any better about what happened with Finn?” Lexa asks before taking another bite of her pasta. The best friends made plans a few days earlier to grab dinner at Mount Weather, one of Lexa’s favorite vegan restaurants, despite Clarke’s diet consisting largely of rare steak and dairy. Every time they go out for dinner, Lexa suggests whatever vegan-friendly health shack her writer friends have told her about, and Clarke complains for all but three seconds before relenting, her insides melting at the sweet, pleading smile the green eyed woman gives her in order to get her way. So tonight is just like every other night, Clarke choking down a salad just to make her best friend happy, even though she knows she’s gonna make herself a plate of nachos in the microwave at home later.

“A little,” Clarke sighs. “I’m trying to keep a positive mindset, remind myself that it wasn’t my fault, y’know?”

“Yeah, I totally get that,” Lexa nods, relating Clarke’s feelings to her own. “I feel like we’ve both been going through really similar things. It’s nice to have someone you trust to talk through your feelings with, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right when I found Costia’s note.”

“I get why you didn’t,” the blonde runs a hand through her hair, signaling to Lexa that she’s just a little bit nervous. She’s always had a habit of playing with and tugging on her hair when something’s on her mind, almost as if she’s trying to coax the confession out of her skull. “You know, we both have such terrible taste in significant others. Makes you wonder if we should just date each other.” Clarke’s nonchalant comment causes the red wine to choke up in Lexa’s throat, sending her into a coughing fit as well as creating a knot in her stomach. What the hell does that mean? Clarke’s face flashes with fear before a look of concern settles on her features.

“Ahem, sorry about that,” Lexa clears her throat.

“Are you okay?” Clarke asks, more worried about her stupid comment than Lexa’s coughing, knowing that the former caused the latter.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Lexa shakes her head a little and takes another bite of her food, the pair slipping into a comfortable silence while they both mull over the implications of Clarke’s words. Lexa has absolutely no idea why Clarke suggested they date, but she expects to find the idea repulsive.

She doesn’t.

The thought of coming home to Clarke in sweatpants and a t-shirt, face covered in paint, makes the green eyed woman smile fondly, but her smile quickly drops off her face when she pictures leaning in and kissing the blonde, pulling away with paint dotting her nose. That’s definitely not supposed to happen. As hard as she tries to push the provocative images out of her head, Lexa’s mind runs rampant with thoughts of Clarke doing anything from cooking dinner to, well, doing _her_.

Clarke can tell that Lexa is elsewhere throughout the rest of their evening, but she decides not to press the issue for fear that Lexa will have something to say about her senseless comment. The blue eyed woman has never been the best at sorting out her emotions, and tonight is no exception. Clarke decides soon after Lexa mentally excuses herself from dinner that she’s just projecting her lingering feelings for Finn onto the green eyed woman across from her, and that’s got to stop before she does anything stupid. Well, anything more stupid.

Once they finish mindlessly eating and wrestling over the check (a war that the green eyed woman won, as she always does), Clarke and Lexa hustle out of the restaurant and into the night. The streets of Los Angeles are bustling with life, all sorts of people drinking, smoking, and fondling each other against the modern brick walls of the high rise buildings. Lexa felt incredibly intimidated when the five of them moved down here from San Francisco, all of them pursuing different branches of the arts. The feeling of unbelonging was only accentuated when Raven started dating Octavia, who coins herself an ‘exotic dancer,’ and her other friends began to prosper in their respective fields. Clarke was always there to hold her down, and for that, Lexa will be eternally grateful.

“What are you thinking about?” Clarke interrupts Lexa’s long streak of silence. “You’ve been checked out for like, hours.”

“I’m sorry,” Lexa frowns as they begin the walk to their respective apartment buildings. “I just… I think I’ve been all over the place since Costia left,” she bites her lip, knowing that her excuse is only partially true. “I’ve been trying to mull it over so that I can get over it.”

“Makes sense,” Clarke nods but she knows it’s absolute bullshit. “Well, I had a good time tonight regardless.”

“You don’t have to lie,” Lexa stops in front of her building. “I know I was a drag.”

“Hey, you weren’t,” Clarke places a tentative hand on Lexa’s shoulder, who tries desperately to ignore the tingling feeling manifesting under the soft weight of Clarke’s palm. “I get what you’re going through, I do, and it’s okay to be in the clouds about it.” A beat of silence ensues before Clarke takes in a sharp breath. “Do you want to come over? We can have a glass of wine, talk a little more?”

“I’d love to.”

#

“And so I told her, ‘No, Raven, I will not wax your bikini line for you,” a voice says from outside Raven’s apartment door as she and Anya lay draped over the couch. The doorswings open to reveal Clarke and Lexa, clad in semi-formal wear, shoving carelessly through the living room.

“Oh hey guys,” Lexa smiles dopily, the effects of the wine she had at dinner starting to hit. “Anya, I didn’t know you were here.”

“I just came over to hang with my girl,” Anya slings an arm over Raven’s shoulder.

“And you left your actual girl at home?” Lexa quirks an eyebrow, knowing that she never goes anywhere without her girlfriend.

“She’ll be fine,” Clarke nudges Lexa to the side before crashing down on top of her friends. “Let’s watch something.” Lexa sits meekly on the edge of the couch’s armrest before Clarke wraps her arms around the brunette’s waist and pulls her into her lap. Lexa’s heart hammers in her chest and she prays that Clarke can’t feel it, while Raven and Anya share a meaningful look, Raven’s face beaming uncontrollably. The women pick out a movie, and Lexa doesn’t notice that it’s started until five minutes of exposition have passed. The green eyed woman realizes that she’s already seen the film, her and Octavia having seen the space-drama in theatres a few months ago. She fades in and out of consciousness until she’s jolted into the full reality that Clarke’s hand has moved from the side of the couch to Lexa’s hip, drawing light circles that make her head spin. Every touch of Clarke’s finger’s sends jolts of electricity through Lexa’s body, every nerve in the area raw and synapses firing. The pads of the blonde’s fingers move around Lexa’s side and find the exposed skin of her lower back, making her jolt instinctively away from the ministrations.

“I’m gonna go get something to drink,” Lexa suddenly jumps up from Clarke’s lap and darts into the kitchen, ignoring Raven and Anya’s requests for a beer. Heat has gathered in her cheeks and in other places, making her head spin and her hands fly out to brace herself against the countertop. She grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge and places it on her neck, the condensation cooling her down slightly but nowhere near enough. Lexa is so lost in calming herself down that she doesn’t even notice the woman causing her distress standing idly in the doorway.

“Lexa, are you okay?” Clarke asks and Lexa jumps at the sound of her voice, the bottle clattering to the floor. “I never knew you to be the one to cringe at physical contact.” Clarke means it as a joke, but she notices that it comes out more mocking than she’d hoped, so she takes a few steps towards her friend in an attempt to placate whatever it is that’s bothering her.

“I’m fine,” Lexa shakes her head, her eyes downcast even after she’s picked up the water bottle she dropped. Clarke’s hands come to rest on Lexa’s shoulders, and the green eyed woman can’t help but shrug out of the touch.

“Okay, clearly something’s wrong,” Clarke throws her arms down in frustration. “Is this about what I said at the restaurant? ‘Cause that was a joke, I thought it was all in good fun and it was just something that occured to me-”

“It’s not that,” Lexa sighs. _It’s that you acting like that and saying that is making me feel things I don’t understand._

“Then what is it?” Lexa winces at the frustration and confusion that drips off of Clarke’s words, causing fissures and cracks in her calm facade.

“I’m just tired,” she lies, her eyes darting anywhere but Clarke’s face for fear that they will settle on her red lips, or the line of her jaw, or her sparkling blue eyes, or-

“Whatever,” Clarke shrugs, despite her feelings being categorized as anything but “whatever.” Lexa takes it as her cue to see herself out, mumbling an “I’ll see you later” to Anya and giving Octavia a curt nod as she bumps into her outside the apartment door. She waits until she’s greeted with the cool outside air to let her tears fall, the wind drying them as quick as they came, allowing the brunette to pretend they never appeared in the first place.

#

“Clarke?” Raven calls out raspily, taking tentative steps towards the dark living room, where she can make out the faint silhouette of her best friend leaning into a canvas, brush in hand. “It’s three AM, what are you doing up?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Clarke calls back, her eyes never leaving the painting in front of her.

“What are you working on?” Raven steps forward to look but Clarke practically body-checks her before she can get any closer.

“You can’t look,” Clarke says, as if it’s the perfect explanation for her violent shove. Raven gawks at her nerve and pivots on her heel, heading back upstairs and crashing into bed, sending Octavia flying off the bed and landing with a comical thud.

“Ow, what the fuck Reyes?” she grunts, her voice thick with sleep.

“Something’s going on with Clarke,” she ignores her girlfriend’s attitude and the slap that lands briskly on her arm, “and I don’t like it.”

Raven has her suspicions what’s causing her strange behavior, or rather who, but that doesn’t mean she has to put up with it.

Because she doesn’t like this Clarke.

She doesn’t like her at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's chapter two! sorry that this update wasn't exactly a week after last week's, i'm gonna try to be better about being more punctual. i also have a bechloe oneshot in the works, for any of you who are interested in that.

**Author's Note:**

> whew, there it is! i hope you guys liked this chapter. feel free to message me on tumblr (sentientaltype) or twitter (olverburg). the next chapter will be up asap, maybe this weekend :))
> 
> oli


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